Let it be Said by our Children's Children...

6:20 am: Alarm goes off, out of bed and into the icy streets for a 4.5 mile run. Seth says if I can run in this weather, I can run in anything!

7:40am: Asheville City Schools are closed, Myles has no morning out program. Uh-oh, mama's under a deadline for work and needs to get this project done!

9:00am: Seth graciously agrees to go into work late so I can get some work done, heads to the library with Mr. "No, no" Myles. I churn out the words on how engaging the nuclear weapons danger can bring people of faith together across theological lines...unity, unity, unity.

11:00am: Seth returns and drops off Myles. I go to MSNBC for live coverage of the inauguration.

11:30am: Myles listens while I say the Lord's prayer with Rick Warren, we marvel at Aretha's hat.

12:00noon: Barack Hussein Obama officially becomes President of the United States of America while Yo-yo Ma and the gang play the most beautiful music (and the dance goes on...). I point out to Myles the violin, cello, clarinet, and piano.

12:05pm: President Obama takes the oath of office. Oops, chief justice messes up the words. Oops, Obama trips over his words too. So the man does have nerves.

12:10pm: "We are bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions."

"Hope over fear; unity over discord."

"Mindful of the sacrifices of our ancestors..."

"The ways we use energy strenthen our adversaries and harm the environment."

"New era of responsibility...the work of Re-making America..."

"The price and promise of citizenship."

"The depth of winter when nothing but hope and virtue could survive..."

"to the Muslim world..."

"not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good."

"Imagination + common purpose; necessity + courage"

"some question the scale of our ambitions..."

"all who seek a future of peace and dignity...we are ready to lead once more!"

"...what you can build, not what you can destroy."

"We will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist."

"Let it be said by our children's children..."

12:30pm: Praise Song for the Day: All about us is noise...each one of our ancestors on our tongues...We walk into that which we cannot yet see. Say it plain: many have died for this day. Sing the names of the dead who brought us here, who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges, picked the cotton and the lettuce, built brick by brick the glittering edifices they would then keep clean and work inside of. Praise song for struggle; praise song for the day...What if the mightiest word is love, love beyond marital, filial, national? ...In today's sharp sparkle, this winter air, anything can be made, any sentence begun." Thank you, Elizabeth Alexander, who rode atop her parents shoulders at that famous march on Washington when she was the age of my son.

12:40pm: "God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, thou who has brought us thus far along the way. Thy who hast by thy might led us into the light, keep us forever on the path, we pray, lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met thee, lest our hearts drunk with wine of the world, we forget thee. Shadowed beneath thy hand, may we forever stand true to thee, true to our native land...We pray now, O Lord, for your blessing upon thy servant, Barack Obama, the 44th president of these United States, his family and his administration." Amen! Yes, I have met Rev. Joseph Lowery, stalwart of the Atlanta civil rights community and friend of WAND.

12:45pm: I hear a clatter in the kitchen. Could it be my toddler, who I have left to play unattended while I boo-hooed over the historic events of the day? Quickly, I rush out to the kitchen to find that he has "put away" the dirty silverware back into the drawer. I try to explain the nuances of dirty vs. clean and a fit ensues. It is then that I notice something brown and sticky on the floor. What could that be? The remains of a cereal bar? I call Juniper down to lick it up...she sniffs it once. I sniff it once. It all becomes clear. I haul Myles upstairs for a diaper change which involves a full change of clothes, a spray-down in the dog shower, an immediate load of laundry and, of course, the cleaning of the floor. How did poop manage to get on the bottom of his socks?

6:30pm: I shed a few tears while cooking and listening to NPR over the bittersweetness of this incredible day, but one I wish I could share with my dad. He wasn't a democrat, but he would have made some insightful observations and I daresay that something about Obama would have impressed him today. Wish I could have shared the day with my dad, but so grateful I did get to share it with my son. What will his children imagine about this day? What will I tell them? Maybe I will borrow a poet's words and say: "On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp...the mightiest word is love."